Friday, October 24, 2025

Help Shape the Vermont Entomology Academy 2026. - Inspiring Curiosity About Insects and Nature

Vermont Entomology Academy 2026: community event for bug lovers, educators, and citizen scientists. Join the planning and exploration!

The Vermont Entomology Academy: Growing a Community of Insect Explorers.

Mission: Inspire curiosity and connection through insect-focused observation and learning.

The Vermont Entomology Academy is in the works — and we’re inviting our community of nature lovers, educators, and curious explorers to help shape it! Planned for early summer 2026, this 1–3 day event will celebrate the amazing world of insects through hands-on learning, outdoor exploration, and plenty of curiosity. Participants will discover how insects connect to people and ecosystems, learn to use tools like nets and iNaturalist, and experience the joy of observing bugs up close.

Right now, we’re in the brainstorming stage and looking for folks to join the effort — from presenters and planners to volunteers. If you’re passionate about insects or simply love sharing the wonder of the natural world, we’d love to have you involved. Together, we can bring the Vermont Entomology Academy to life and inspire the next generation of bug-eyed adventurers!

How to Get Involved

We’re building a collaborative team to make this event come alive — and we welcome your ideas and enthusiasm. Here are a few ways to participate:

Join the Working Group or Steering Committee – Help guide the vision and organization of the Academy.
Volunteer as a Presenter – Lead a short talk, field walk, workshop, or hands-on activity related to insects and insect observations.
Contribute Resources or Skills – We’re seeking help with video recording, event setup, educational materials, and field gear.
Spread the Word – Share this project with anyone who might want to participate or attend!

If you’d like to be part of this exciting effort, please reach out to Bernie Paquette to express your interest or learn more.

Let’s make Vermont buzz with curiosity and community in 2026!

Join us in creating a hands-on learning experience about insects, ecosystems, and discovery.

🌿 Overall Objectives of the Vermont Entomology Academy

By the end of the Academy, participants will:

Gain a deeper understanding of the vital roles insects play in human life and ecosystems.
Learn the fundamentals of entomology — including insect definition, anatomy, diversity, life cycles, and lifestyles.
Experience the joy of observing insects in their natural habitats.
Discover why and how to use iNaturalist to document and share observations.
Practice using essential field tools — nets, magnifying glasses, and guidebooks — to explore the insect world up close.

Our goal is to inspire curiosity, confidence, and connection with the often-overlooked creatures that keep our ecosystems thriving.

🐝 Who’s Involved

Steering Committee:
Bernie Paquette, TBD,

Working Group*
Declan McCabe, Sandy (Sandra) Fary, Erin Talmage

Contributors*
Michael Sabourin, Mike Kiernan, Ellen Martinsen, Mercedes Oxford Kemp, Cole Logan, Leslie Spencer, Sam (Samantha) Alger

Presenters: Volunteers Needed. See "Commitments and resources so far", below.

*If you’d like to be part of the Working Group or serve as a presenter, please contact Bernie Paquette.

Also, contact Bernie for the latest Meeting Agenda and Project Management Spreadsheet.

Let’s bring this idea to life by early summer 2026!

🪲 Current Needs

We’re still in the brainstorming stage and welcome ideas, energy, and helping hands. Here’s where we could use support:

Presentation* Volunteers: We’re especially seeking individuals to help design and lead engaging talks or hands-on sessions.
Video Recording: Capture presentations to share learning beyond the event.
Steering Committee Members: Seeking two additional members to round out the leadership team.

Ongoing Framework Development: Continue shaping the structure, schedule, and activities of the Academy.

*Suggested presentation topics

Insect biology and ecology
Insect-plant interactions
Insect conservation and biodiversity
Pests and beneficial insects
A presentation could focus on "The fascinating life of bees.”
Interesting and accessible topics include insect camouflage and mimicry, or the unique chemicals insects use for communication.
Demonstrate the difference between complete and incomplete metamorphosis.
Using very small WOWbugs, teach students basic microscope use.
Why and how to use iNaturalist

🌸 Commitments and Resources So Far

We’re fortunate to already have some strong commitments and resources taking shape:

Saint Michael’s College (SMC) – Venue and equipment provided by Declan McCabe, Professor at SMC. Includes microscopes with cameras, laptops, bug pinning gear, a teaching collection, sweep nets, and 365 acres of natural area with an outdoor teaching pavilion equipped with tables and chairs.
University of Vermont (UVM) – Lab space (up to 16 participants) with microscopes, coordinated by Ellen Martinsen, PhD researcher at UVM.
Educational Resources – A take-home bug guide and activity booklet for kids, developed by Mercedes Oxford Kemp.
Pollinator Tools – Mike Kiernan, founder of Bee The Change, has provided 22 butterfly nets and pollinator habitats already in use in 17 schools.
Presenters, Course Content, & Field Activities

– Bernie Paquette, 5-minute talk. When Birds Meet Bugs: How One Yard Became a Wildlife Haven.
– Cole Logan, UVM alum and entomologist, is developing lessons and field/lab activities, and providing collecting gear such as backlights and nets.
– Daniel Koenemann, District Manager | Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District, offers a presentation on pollination biology and pollination syndromes.
– Bernie Paquette: Interactive photo presentation promoting the joy of inverting.
– Julia Pupko - Workshop or presentation, subject tbd.

🌻 Looking Ahead

The Vermont Entomology Academy is still in its early stages — a growing idea nourished by creativity, community, and curiosity. As we continue to build the framework, we welcome anyone who shares a love for insects, education, and the natural world to join us. Whether you’d like to teach, organize, contribute ideas, or simply follow along as plans develop, your participation will help this Academy take flight.

Let’s work together to make early summer 2026 a season of discovery, learning, and appreciation for the incredible insects that share our world.

To get involved or learn more, please contact Bernie Paquette — and help us make Vermont buzz with excitement for the Entomology Academy!

Inspirational Quotes

"There is another world inhabited by intriguing life, thousands of diverse species, no less complex, no less capable in the context of their world than we are in ours. They are bugs - insects that are as close as your backyard. GO DISCOVER THEM."

-Bugeyed Bernie

OF CURIOSITY and SCIENCE

"SCIENCE, IN ITS MOST fundamental definition, is a fruitful mode of inquiry, not a list of enticing conclusions. The conclusions are the consequence, not the essence."

- Stephen Jay Gould in The Flamingo's Smile - Reflections in Natural History

Lead us to nature
We will never again be lost.
Bernie

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

BugEyed Bernie awarded the 2025 Julie Nicholson Community Science Award

Susan and VCE staff members,

I am honored to be recognized by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. See page 10 of the VCE Fall 2025 Field Notes Newsletter: Bernie Paquette is named this year's JULIE NICHOLSON COMMUNITY SCIENCE AWARD. I am humbled and awed by past recipients of the award, and grateful
Welcome to the community of inverters (observing insects)

that I can contribute my curiosity and passion for insects to help more people become introduced to these fascinating creatures, taking a closer look.

Award Acceptance – 2025 Julie Nicholson Community Science Award

It’s probably just as well you didn’t reach me by phone to share the news of this award, because for perhaps the first time in my life, I would have been speechless. Truly at a loss for words. The gratitude I feel is as deep and difficult to express as the awe I experience when insects allow me the privilege to observe and photograph them. They are the ones most deserving of our highest regard. I admit, it feels a bit embarrassing to accept recognition when, in my eyes, the insects are the real stars of the show.

Promoting "inverting"—the observation of invertebrates—often feels like channeling P.T. Barnum, standing before a crowd to announce: “Ladies and gentlemen, behold the Greatest Show on Earth!”

And what a show it is. Insects perform feats no human ever could. Some engage in otherworldly mating rituals. Some have five eyes, seeing and sensing things beyond our imagination. Some fly in all directions at speeds over 40 mph. Their wardrobes of patterns and colors would make Coco Chanel and Ralph Lauren look plain by comparison. Their architectural ingenuity would send our best designers back to the drawing board.

In the world of insects, the unusual is practically standard. Just look at the recent appearance of a White Monarch (WCAX, 8/15/2025), or the discovery of a new bee for Vermont—Epeolus lunatus, the Lunate Longhorn cuckoo bee (Amber Jones, July 2025). The uncommon is not out of reach, and the rare or even undiscovered still await us.

Under the “Insect Tent,” alongside the uncountable species, are the biologists, entomologists, and naturalists who generously share their knowledge and passion. I’ve had many mentors along the way, and I hold each of them in the highest esteem.

In truth, I’m just the kid hanging up the circus posters and munching popcorn—while watching, in fascination, as insects go about their daily lives. How they find food, pollinate, mate, build shelter, and bask in the sun. Some live solitary lives, others in complex societies—all in plain sight, if we only take the time to stop, look, and truly see. It’s a miniature alien world that unfolds right before us.

Inverting is, without question, The Greatest Show on Earth—an immense world of small, extraordinary wonders. And the best part? The show takes place as close as our backyards.

I believe that inverting will soon be the new birding. Just as Bob Spear’s passion for birds helped build a vibrant birding community in our part of Vermont, I hope to help spark a similarly strong movement around invertebrates. I hope to help lift this quiet, crawling, humming world into the public eye.

I am deeply humbled and honored to be counted among the incredible individuals who’ve received this award before me. Their contributions are truly monumental. As for me, I’ll accept a gentle pat on the back for helping to promote inverting and advocating for the insect world. Unlike the successes of the award recipients before me, my impact is only beginning to unfold.

And so I accept this honor with gratitude, not for what I have done, but for what I hope still to do: To hang the posters, cheer from the crowd, and keep the spotlight shining on the smallest, strangest, most astonishing performers the Earth has ever known.

- Bernie

FROM VCE: If anyone you know wants to get a copy of the Fall 2025 Field Notes, they can email info@vtecostudies.org with their mailing address.

On Thursday, August 14, 2025 at 10:37:56 AM EDT, Susan Hindinger <shindinger@vtecostudies.org> wrote:

Hi Bernie,

I just tried to call you, but the phone number that we have in our records seems to no longer work, so I will resort to email.

I wanted to be the first to tell you that VCE's staff has selected you to receive our 2025 Julie Nicholson Community Science award! We consider this award a kind of "lifetime achievement" award, and we choose an individual each year who has contributed a tremendous amount of energy, time, and thought to VCE's science and conservation projects, and who has also educated others along the way.

We are so pleased to welcome you to the esteemed group of awardees. You can read about Julie Nicholson, the champion of community science for whom this award is named, and read about past recipients on the VCE website here.

We plan to announce the award in the fall 2025 edition of Field Notes and to present the award to you physically at our year-end celebration at the Norwich Inn on Monday, December 8. The celebration runs from 5:30-8pm -- an informal gathering with food and beverages and usually about 70-100 people, depending on the weather!

Our Director of Communications, Alden Wicker, will reach out to you shortly to request a conversation so that she can write an article about you and the award in the next couple of weeks. I know she'll enjoy hearing about your experiences, and I hope you'll enjoy sharing your story with her!

Congratulations on this honor. All of us at VCE are grateful to you for sharing your passion, skills, and time to benefit our shared mission.

With best regards,

Susan Hindinger

Executive Director

Vermont Center for Ecostudies

Mailing address: PO Box 420, Norwich, VT 05055

Physical address: 20 Palmer Court, White River Junction, VT 05001

www.vtecostudies.org

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

What Counts? A Hundred Bees and Then What?.

We love to count. Is today your birthday? How old are you? Are you graduating? What grade? You lost or gained weight. How many pounds? You observed a new bird. What is your life list count? Are you an inverter? How many insect species have you posted?

Once we learn how to count (at an increasingly early age, it seems), we start to lose something of the grandeur of not quantifying our discoveries. The first time we see a frog jump, we want to jump like them. The second time we see a frog jump, we do get on all fours and jump after or along with them. At pre-counting days, it never gets old. Once we start counting, it becomes, ya, been there done that (sixteen times), the allure has faded, to be replaced with the tally.

Up until the point where I reached 99 species of bees observed, the number of observations seemed obscure. I seldom had a handle on what my latest count was. Each new bee and all the ones I had previously seen excited me as though I was meeting a friend for coffee to exchange each our latest adventures.

Fine Striped Sweat Bee Agapostemon subtilior no. 115

Then I observed my 100th bee species; most were observed in our yard. I don’t even remember which species was my 100th anymore. My 98th was Dwarf Cellophane-cuckoo Bee (Epeolus pusillus), I remember because there were no other posts of this species on iNaturalist at the time (August 23, 2023).

May of 2024 brought me to 99 species with an Obliterated Nomad (Nomada obliterata) overall (meaning our yard and a few at other locations). I had learned to ‘count’ and I was about to count to 100 for the first time. Think back to counting popsicle sticks in preschool or kindergarten and getting to 100! Suddenly, it felt like every bee I observed was going to be number 100 to get me a gold star.

From then on, it seemed that if an observation was not a new bee, I felt a slight disappointment. “Oh, hello, tri-colored bumblebee bee my old pal and best friend; sorry I can’t stay to chat and sip nectar, looking for a new best buddy. Ah, look at an uncommon Yellow-banded Bumble Bee. Nice, I am impressed, good to see you again, come by more often, gotta go, on a mission, bye”.

My neighbor sees me on the sidewalk on my knees near the rose bushes. “How many bee species are you up to now?” he asks. Ninety-nine, I respond with a sigh. A few years ago I would have been all giddy and talking his ear off about whatever I was observing at the moment or how a Common Eastern Bumble Bee I observed was carrying a dump truck load of pollen on one leg and half as much on the other so that it seemed on the verge of tipping over and when it started to fly it looked like an airplane taking off with wheels on only one side.

I was now struck with the counting game. The competitive fire that can never be satiated. Before we learn to count, a nickel is a gold mine, able to buy the sweetest candy or trinket. We learn to count, grow up, and find that our bank account is always hungry; the more we put in, the less satisfied we are.

The nickels of countless observations lost some of their luster. The tri-colored bumble bees were as orangey as ever, the yellow-banded still a surprise, and the perplexing still reminded me of free-range scrambled eggs. The Zadontomerus digging the pith out of last year's goldenrod stems still entertained me for long stretches of time. But somehow the desire to reach a new count kept taunting me, tarnishing my joy in everyday observations, no matter how different they were from one observation to the next.

Lost was my spirit of “Seeking insects is like treasure hunting, and observing their behavior is like going on a wild safari.” I missed my youthful self, who was young enough to have a curiosity that required direct sensory experience. Now I needed a fix of a new high count, one that would satisfy me briefly, then quickly let me down.

Insects seemed to become less patient with me, landing briefly but not long enough for me to get a good photo. Butterflies no longer sat upon my hand to drink my sweat and exchange complaints, praises, or stories about the weather. Beetles ran faster than ever upon seeing me. Jumping spiders no longer stared at me or followed my movements.

The peace, inner stillness, along with some of the joy from being in nature observing many other life forms going about their daily routines, seeking food, building a home, and procreating, were diminished. In place, a competitive, perhaps self-competitive (the worst kind), ate at me to reach new heights. Upon sighting a frog, if I even thought of jumping, it was only to jump faster and farther than the frog. If a dragonfly or hoverfly held in place in front of my face with hundreds of knowing eyes, no message got through to me, no clear sight returned.

My one-hundredth bee species, thankfully, came. So important a number, yet I do not recall which species it is. No doubt a most beautiful bee, unique in structure, colors, life behaviors, and yet, I only recall reaching the pinnacle and then quickly being once again diffused, deflated, and discouraged. After all, there are over 350 bee species known to be in Vermont. I had a long way to go. Not to mention my bucket list item: to see a live Rusty-patched Bumble Bee in the wild in Vermont.

Some addictions can be overcome. Yes, I am still a counter. Perhaps once a counter, always a counter. But I have learned about my addiction and how to keep it under control. I have found my way back to my friends, and they have kindly befriended me with their patience and understanding. I meet them at the diner of their choice, and they allow me to join them for a sip of nectar, sharing the latest buzz about the weather, and lay about some goldenrod sawdust to sit upon. Beetles still scurry, but pause occasionally to what? I don’t know, perhaps to count the number of humans they have observed.

Now I mostly count my blessings; open natural areas with an abundance of species. New ones to discover, old friends to learn more about. Life only gets old if you focus too much on the count!

Baltimore Checkerspot Euphydryas phaeton

July 6, 2025, resting on my counting finger.

PS, in case YOU are still counting, Bernie is up to 129 bee species in Vermont. See his bee posts at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?project_id=96859&ttl=900&place_id=any&verifiable=any&view=species&user_id=11956.

View Bernie’s iNat observations at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=47&subview=table&user_id=bugeyedbernie&verifiable=any

Monday, October 13, 2025

A Pause Between Seasons

It is October. Time of falling leaves, cutoff from their food source, no longer green sun eaters, dropping, twirling, rainbow kites cut from their tethers, streaking to earth, flashing their colors of red, yellow, orange, combinations of each, some muted, some vibrant, some retaining a slice of green, all medals of honor, for they served their mission above well and now in dropping, landing like paratroopers upon the cold ground they will provide a few final acts of selfless bravery by giving their last bits of energy as warmth to those who live under them over the winter and by early spring transfer what is left of their crumbling bodies will turn to soil to help feed their parents and others who in turn feed from the earth.

Over sixty degrees on October 12. Clouds, scarce through much of the summer, now creep up on the sun. A week ago, a light frost proved too much for most of the bits of color in the open exposed fields, yet along the wide trail, asters dressed in fall colors of purple and blue, with yellow hearts and sometimes a touch of white to keep frost at bay by telling it not to bother, here they stand tall, robust, they play the music Pianississimo(pp) during the summer, and when others begin their long sleep in early fall, awakened they play 𝑃𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑜(𝑝𝑝) in harmony sending out solo electric vibrations, a joy to the male bees not unlike the leaves having finished their main mission some weeks ago - that of passing on their genes to the now comfortably sleeping new year queens - feed on the asters as though it is their last meal, likely it is, the bee’s wings are tattered from countless (they can count, only why bother) trips to flowers through branches and leaves, hair askew, silky but thin, muscles weaken from low body temperatures from low air temperatures even though they rested in sunlight before flying turning the sun’s freely given energy into muscle power into flying fuel now resting upon a New York Aster its yellow center advertising nectar so sweet and warming as hot apple cider on a cool sunny fall day that I sip as I watch two then three, here comes a fourth bumping into another how can they all expect to fit on that one flower but they do if only momentarily though one gives up and flys to a nearby bloom slightly closed and not as appetizing or nourishing while the other three probe in and out drilling deep pumping energy from the depths of the well as I too sip from the bottom of my reusable cup wondering do they know, do the bees realize unlike the queens produced this year, they being male have nearly outlived their purposefulness, dining as they are on the last meals, their last meals at the bottom of the plates, with no shelters to winter over, no freeze dried flowers, no antifreeze chemicals in their bodies, that there is no diapause for them only a brief pause before they die, and would it make any difference if they did or do know, is that any reason to not enjoy these sparsely located restaurants who are grateful for the bee's patronage, (is it a sort of nepotism?), as evident when I inadvertently move to abrubtly and spook some of the bees only to have them fly a short distance away but quickly return to their seats at the NYASTER diner because flight is costly, and diners are now few and far apart, best to ignore those who might be obstreperous for which I do apologize to them and thank the bees as I always do for allowing me to observe them for I am most curious at how different they all look, the colors and patterns and behaviors from species to species, even slight differences in individuals within a species, and how the bumbles will raise a leg to tell me I am a little too close to their table, a little too attentive, bothering them, or two legs to say they feel anxious, and how a bumble will fly into a green sweat bee with no more of a hello than a bump and how sometimes the much smaller sweat bee will hold its own remaining on the flower next to the mammoth bumble and how the flower smiles because she knows though she must give she also receives in return the pollination that helps future flowers come to be long after these bees and these flowers reach the end of the fall pause and die.

I always think of us as brothers and sisters in the pursuit of a deeper understanding of the inverting world. And in the fall, I quietly grieve that diapause means visits with my friends pause while some of them slumber and some return borrowed energy to the earth.